MacArthur 'Genius' Award Authors

Graphic novelist and MacArthur "genius" Gene Luen Yang

The 23 recipients of this year's MacArthur Foundation "genius" grants--$625,000 paid out over five years to people who "show exceptional creativity in their work and the prospect for still more in the future"--include these authors:

Kellie Jones, art historian and curator, whose works include EyeMinded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art and the forthcoming South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s.

Josh Kun, cultural historian, and author of, among other titles, Audiotopia, To Live and Dine in LA: Menus and the Making of the Modern City and Songs in the Key of Los Angeles.

Maggie Nelson, writer, whose works include nonfiction like The Red Parts and The Art of Cruelty and books both on poetry and of poetry.